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Nevada's US senators say the Federal Communications Commission's new, more detailed broadband maps have tens of thousands of mistakes in their state alone.

"Nevada’s Office of Science, Innovation, & Technology (OSIT) has found over 20,000 purported broadband-serviceable locations on the map that they believe overstate coverage. They also have found incorrect information on the quality of service available to some locations and in some cases, missing serviceable locations," Sens. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.) and Catherine Cortez Masto (D-Nev.) wrote in a letter to the FCC last week.

The FCC's new broadband-availability information shows which addresses have service based on data submitted by Internet service providers, so mistakes would indicate that broadband companies are claiming to serve more homes and businesses than they actually do. The senators' reference to "missing serviceable locations" also suggests the FCC failed to include every home or business location in its list of addresses.

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Internet service provider horror stories have been a longtime staple at Ars Technica, and over the past 12 months we detailed some of the most horrific broadband customer experiences we've ever heard of.

Comcast, the largest home Internet provider in the US, figured prominently in these stories as usual. Let's take a look back at the biggest ISP horror stories we covered in 2022.

Comcast wanted man to pay $19,000 after falsely advertising service on his street

This article from April 6 detailed the plight of Jonathan Rowny after he and his wife and child moved from Virginia to Washington state. Rowny was victimized by a common problem in the broadband industry—ISPs falsely telling customers that service is available.

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The Federal Communications Commission took two significant steps toward providing US broadband users with more accurate availability and pricing information.

Today, the FCC released the long-awaited National Broadband Map update based on the most detailed data the commission has ever collected from ISPs. There's still plenty of work to do, as this first version will undergo a challenge process to correct errors, and there are indications it will have many inaccuracies.

"The map will display specific location-level information about broadband services available throughout the country—a significant step forward from the census block level data previously collected," an FCC press release said. "This release of the draft map kicks off the public challenge processes that will play a critical role in improving the accuracy of the map."

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On October 17, Jonathan Chambers received an email that wasn't meant for him.

Chambers is one of the top executives at Conexon , a broadband company that has built and operates dozens of fiber networks in rural parts of America. Conexon recently won one of the Louisiana state government's GUMBO grants to deploy fiber-to-the-home service in East Carroll Parish, where the poverty rate of 37.6 percent is over three times the national average .

"This isn't our biggest project anywhere. But in many ways it's our most important," Chambers told Ars in a phone interview. Conexon primarily works with electric cooperatives, favoring a business model in which the local community owns the fiber network and Conexon operates it under a lease agreement.

Enlarge / Horizontal boring equipment installing fiber in Los Altos Hills, California. (credit: Los Altos Hills Community Fiber)

Our recent article about Silicon Valley residents who formed a co-op Internet service provider might have people wondering what it would take to get the same thing in their hometowns. The most obvious obstacle is price—in Los Altos Hills, California, residents have had to pay anywhere from $5,000 to $12,000 upfront for a fiber-to-the-home Internet connection.

But the company that built the Los Altos Hills network says its model isn't just for wealthy people. "This is not the 1 percent solution, as people derisively call it to my face," Next Level Networks CEO David Barron told Ars in a phone interview a few weeks ago. "Los Altos Hills was unique."

Los Altos Hills residents were the first to contract with Next Level Networks, and Barron said the company has "a fairly aggressive expansion plan to go into a number of markets throughout the United States in the next five years."

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The Federal Communications Commission has collected precise broadband availability information from Internet service providers for the first time and aims to release a first draft of a new broadband map in November, FCC Chairwoman Jessica Rosenworcel wrote Friday .

The FCC last week "completed the first filing window for submitting data on where broadband service is and is not available," a milestone in the years-long process of creating an accurate US broadband map, she wrote. "For the first time ever, we have collected extensive location-by-location data on precisely where broadband services are available, and now we are ready to get to work and start developing new and improved broadband maps."

The resulting map should show whether fixed broadband service is available at each residence or business location. The FCC's inaccurate broadband maps have long made it difficult to distribute deployment grants where they're needed most.

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Several US government agencies are having a busy week for doling out broadband deployment funding to ISPs and state governments. Today, the FCC announced $791.6 million for six broadband providers, covering network expansions to over 350,000 homes and businesses in 19 states. The ISPs will receive the money over 10 years.

"This round of funding supports projects using a range of network technologies, including gigabit service hybrid fiber/fixed wireless deployments that will provide end-user locations with either fiber or fixed wireless network service using licensed spectrum," the FCC said. Funded ISPs include Nextlink Internet and Starry .

Separately, the Treasury Department and National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) this week announced new grants for states and Tribal entities (more on that later in this article).

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Fifty-four members of the European Parliament are protesting what they call a "radical proposal" to require payments from online service providers to Internet service providers.

Noting that Europe's 2015 "Open Internet Regulation ensures that citizens are free to use whichever apps and websites they wish," the MEPs said they have "deep concern about the European Commission's plans to change our net neutrality legislation in the upcoming Connectivity Infrastructure Act to be proposed in autumn, without having consulted the public, technology experts, academics, civil society, or expert regulatory agencies."

No specific proposal has been released, but "statements to the press indicate that a new provision would require payments from online service providers to broadband providers—ostensibly to fund the rollout of 5G and fiber to the home," the MEPs wrote in the letter yesterday to the European Commission.

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The US Treasury Department has started approving broadband grants to states from a $10 billion fund created to expand access to Internet service and other digital connectivity tools.

The Treasury Department's announcement on Tuesday said the first approved projects would "connect over 200,000 homes and businesses to affordable, reliable, high-speed Internet" in Louisiana, New Hampshire, Virginia, and West Virginia. The funded networks will provide symmetrical service with download and upload speeds of at least 100Mbps, the department said.

The four states are getting a combined $583 million from the $10 billion Coronavirus Capital Projects Fund (CPF), which Congress passed in March 2021 as part of the American Rescue Plan Act. "Treasury designed its guidance to prioritize connecting families and businesses with poor and inadequate service—particularly those in rural and remote areas. Treasury also requires states to explain why communities they have identified to be served with funds from the CPF have a critical need for those projects," the department said.